Indigofera australis, known as Australian Indigo, is an attractive species of leguminous shrub in the genus Indigofera

Indigofera

Indigofera is a large genus of about 700 species of flowering plants belonging to the family Fabaceae.The species are mostly shrubs, though some are herbaceous, and a few can become small trees up to tall. Most are dry-season or winter deciduous. The leaves are pinnate with 5–31 leaflets and the...

(Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

 family). The genus name "Indigofera" is Neo-Latin for "bearing Indigo" (Indigo

Indigo

Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...

 is a purple dye originally obtained from some Indigofera species), while "australis" from the Latin, means "southern", referring to the geographical distribution of the species.

Distribution

A very common and widespread species. It grows in a variety of different habitats, mainly open woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

 and eucalypt

Eucalypt

Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...

 forest, but also in desert

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

 and in the margins of rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

. Widespread in southern Australia from the south-east of Western Australia to north-east Queensland.

Description

Its natural habit is upright, to 2 m (7 ft) high, with flexible stems. The leaves are pinnate, openly spaced on the stems, around 10 cm long and velvety smooth to the touch. The flower color is unusual, ranging through soft purple hues, often pinkish and a change from other species flowering at the same time. The flowers are smooth, in short spires in the leaf axils, freely produced and showy, outlining the curves of the stems. They may open at any time from mid-September and may continue till November in a cool spring.

It can regrow and sucker

Basal shoot

A basal shoot, root sprout, adventitious shoot, water sprout or sucker is a shoot or cane which grows from a bud at the base of a tree or shrub or from its roots. This shoot then becomes, or takes the form of, a singular plant. A plant that produces suckers is referred to as surculose...

 from rootstock

Rootstock

A rootstock is a plant, and sometimes just the stump, which already has an established, healthy root system, used for grafting a cutting or budding from another plant. The tree part being grafted onto the rootstock is usually called the scion...

s and lateral roots

Lateral roots

Lateral roots extend horizontally from the primary root and serve to anchor the plant securely into the soil. This branching of roots also contributes to water uptake, and facilitates the extraction of nutrients required for the growth and development of the plant.Many different factors are...

 after fire.

Uses

The attractive flowers, and the plants adaptability to grow in different situations make it suitable as an ornamental plant in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

The Australian aborigines

Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...

 crushed the leaves and added these to water to kill or stun fish and eels.

The leaves and stems produce yellow-fawn dye with alum

Alum

Alum is both a specific chemical compound and a class of chemical compounds. The specific compound is the hydrated potassium aluminium sulfate with the formula KAl2.12H2O. The wider class of compounds known as alums have the related empirical formula, AB2.12H2O.-Chemical properties:Alums are...

 as mordant

Mordant

A mordant is a substance used to set dyes on fabrics or tissue sections by forming a coordination complex with the dye which then attaches to the fabric or tissue. It may be used for dyeing fabrics, or for intensifying stains in cell or tissue preparations. The term mordant comes from the Latin...

.

Habitat value

It is an excellent habitat plant for wildlife. Flowers are a pollen and nectar source for many native insects, including native bees and wasps. The plant is a useful food plant for butterfly larvae

Larval food plants of Lepidoptera

Caterpillars of Lepidoptera species are mostly herbivores, often oligophagous, i.e. feeding on a narrow variety of plant species ....

 (catterpillars):

• Chilades trochylus — "Grass Jewel"
• Eurema hecabe
  Eurema hecabe
  The Large Grass Yellow or Common Grass Yellow is a small pierid butterfly species found in Asia or Africa. They are found flying close to the ground and are found in open grass and scrub habitats...
  
  — "Common Grass Yellow"
• Lampides boeticus
  Lampides boeticus
  The Peablue, Pea Blue, or Long-tailed Blue is a small butterfly found in Europe, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Australia that belongs to the Lycaenids or gossamer-winged family....
  
  — "Long-tailed Pea Blue"
• Zizina labradus
  Zizina labradus
  Zizina labradus, commonly known as the Common Grass Blue, Grass Blue, or Clover Blue, is a small Australian butterfly of the Lycaenidae family.-Description:...
  
  — "Common Grass-blue"